Quick and easy healthy Refried Beans recipe

Refried beans are a bit of a strange mystery. They’re a type of Mexican food that a lot of people are happy to accept at face value without really knowing what they are. A number of brands sell refried beans in a tin, or in a sachet, alongside a meal kit for some tacos, for example.

Homemade healthy refried beans from scratch taste a lot better than shop-bought ones, I promise. Plus, this recipe freezes well! This means you can make a batch in advance and then thaw out a portion or two for taco night.

How to make healthy refried beans

Start off, as with most Mexican recipes, with lighter frying spray, and your onion and garlic. In this recipe, you aren’t at risk of overwhelming anything with these flavours, so you can go a bit crazy with the size of your chunks.

The important thing here is that the onion and garlic get completely and thoroughly softened. Chewing through a mouthful of these tasty beans will be ruined if you suddenly have to crunch through a chunk of onion.

The easiest way to soften onions reliably and quickly, in my opinion, is to add them to the pan, allow them to heat through, and then put the lid on. This will generate some steam which both softens your onions particularly and helps them to stop them sticking, which is always a pain when you come to do the dishes.

After your onion and garlic are softened, add in the mixed beans once you have rinsed and drained the beans. Black beans would be in keeping with typical Mexican food, but anything will work.

Here it’s worth adding in a splash of water and recovering the pot. That way, the steam will help to soften your beans slightly before you add seasoning.

Seasoning your healthy refried beans

When the time comes to season, remove everything from the heat. I took my pan across to my chopping board, but that might be a little too far. Add in your seasonings one by one, waiting until you’ve added all of them to mash and mix.

For this recipe, I added salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, and dried chillies. None of these particularly function as aromatics, so they don’t really need a bloom.

I used roughly half a teaspoon of chilli flakes, and that was the perfect amount for me. The recipe could stand a little more if you like heat. If you’re using fresh chillies instead, remember to add them at the start, along with your onion and garlic.

After adding those seasonings, add in your lime juice. I used the juice of one whole lime, though you can use more or less depending on your tastes.

I will say that lime juice is one of the things that particularly brings together all the other ingredients in the dish, so you can be quite heavy-handed with it. Now there’s a good amount of liquid in the pan, you can mash the beans.

How to mash refried beans

Using a standard potato masher, or an electric one if you prefer, gently squish everything in the pan. You may need to go round a few times, as the beans are quite small. The texture you’re aiming for is a paste with a few beans still left whole dispersed throughout.

Serving healthy refried beans

After mashing, taste for seasoning and ensure they’re piping hot throughout before serving. I love refried beans on tacos with a generous dollop of sour cream!

If you like this you might also like these recipes

If this recipe is something you like then here are some other popular recipes I think you might like.

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Chicken and lime tacos

Shakshuka

Tex Mex Quinoa

Mexican salad

Beef in black bean sauce

Jacket potato guide with lots of tasty fillings including sweetcorn, onion and mushroom topping.

Smoky baked beans or Boston baked beans.

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